Will AI replace cargo and freight agents?

Unlikely, though parts of the work are changing. About 30m of an 8-hour shift goes to tasks touched by robots. The other 7h 30m (94%) stays with people. Separately, BLS expects about 6.2% more of these jobs by 2035 (all jobs: +3.5%).

None of this job's tasks show regular AI use yet. That can mean the work is hands-on or in person, or simply that it rarely comes up in AI usage data.

For some tasks, yes. Robots have done 3 of this job's tasks in workplaces like this one, about 30m of a typical shift. 7 more tasks have only been done in factory setups built around the machine, so they stay with people here. For 1 physical task, no robot has shown it can do the work yet.

• Route received goods to first available flight or to appropriate storage areas or departments, using forklifts, hand trucks, or other equipment. (12m a shift; e.g. Seegrid Tow Tractor, RS1 Lift Truck, Pallet Truck AMRs, in use)
• Direct delivery trucks to shipping doors or designated marshaling areas and help load and unload goods safely. (12m a shift; e.g. Boston Dynamics Stretch, in use)
• Maintain a supply of packing materials. (6m a shift; e.g. Third Wave Automation autonomous forklifts (TWA Reach), in use)

7h 30m of a typical shift, or 94%, goes to tasks with no AI or robot evidence yet. No AI usage or robot deployment has shown up for these so far. The biggest:

• Determine method of shipment and prepare bills of lading, invoices, and other shipping documents. (1h 6m a shift)
• Track delivery progress of shipments. (48m a shift)
• Negotiate and arrange transport of goods with shipping or freight companies. (42m a shift)
• Enter shipping information into a computer by hand or by a hand-held scanner that reads bar codes on goods. (36m a shift)
• Estimate freight or postal rates and record shipment costs and weights. (30m a shift)

Much of it comes down to where and how the work happens. In-person, hands-on and high-stakes work is where AI and robots have made the least headway so far. In the official O*NET survey of people in this job:

• 60% are in constant contact with other people
• 54% carry high or very high responsibility for other workers' safety
• 52% say dealing with the public is very or extremely important

We track 1 sourced company move that affects this job. Most recent:

• Jan 25, 2026: Penske Logistics rolls out AI to track 600,000 loads and contact carriers (Rolling out)

On Indeed, job postings in the Logistic Support sector are at 119% of their February 2020 level (all U.S. postings: 104%), up 5.1% from a year earlier, as of Oct 9, 2026. BLS separately expects about 9,000 openings a year in this job through 2035. Across all U.S. postings, 7.3% now mention AI skills. Sector postings cover more than this one job and move for many reasons besides AI.

The median pay is about $52,260 a year ($25.13 an hour), 3% above the median for all U.S. jobs ($50,980). Most people in this job earn between $38,340 and $79,810 a year; that range covers the middle 80%. Pay figures are from BLS, May 2025, and vary a lot by state and employer. Pick a state to compare:

BLS projects growth of 6.2% from 2025 to 2035, compared with 3.5% growth for all jobs. That's about 106,000 jobs in 2035. It expects about 9,000 openings a year, mostly from people retiring or changing careers. These projections don't single out AI as a cause.

About 98,000 people in the U.S., roughly 0.06% of all workers (BLS, May 2025). That makes it the 278th largest of the 796 jobs on this site. BLS expects about 106,000 in 2035.

The most common requirement is a bachelor's degree: about 31% of people in the job said so in the official O*NET survey. O*NET rates the job at level 2 of 5 for preparation, which usually means: high school diploma, some training. Requirements vary by state and employer, especially for licensed work.

These come from the job's official skill ratings and from the tasks that AI and robots touch least today. Building them keeps you strong in the parts of the work that still need a person:

• Skills that matter more here than in most jobs: Negotiation, Speaking, Service Orientation, Time Management
• Get strong at the parts of the job that stay with people (listed above), which take 7h 30m of a typical shift
• Tools employers list: Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word

These use similar skills. Matches come from 109 official ratings of skills, knowledge and work activities, and each needs the same or less preparation unless the official list relates the jobs directly:

• Postal Service Mail Carriers (1h 22m touched, $61k median pay)
• Postal Service Clerks (2h 11m touched, $62k median pay)

Each task carries its own evidence label. For this job: 3 with robots in real deployments, 21 with no AI or robot evidence found. The minutes per task are estimates, not measured hours, and "no evidence" doesn't prove a task is safe.